In Spite of Myself

I Corinthians 5:9-13

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

*We are not to judge those that are without the church body. We are not to so far remove ourselves from the unsaved that we take ourselves completely out of the world. Being separate is not the same as being in a bubble. We are to avoid close association with those who are BRETHREN that are continuing in sin. Remember, Jesus was also eating with and spending time with those that were lost. He was also looked down upon and talked badly about by the "religious" people of his day. He did not participate in sin, but he did not remove himself from the company of sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost and we are to do the same. We are to share the gospel and the Holy Spirit is the one that convicts a man's heart. Not us. This has been weighing heavy on me as I have lately seen many Christians that pick and choose which "sinners" they will reach out to and which ones they consider "too bad" to share the gospel with. It saddens me. Let us not forget, Paul was a murderer and God redeemed him. No one is beyond redemption.

I was thinking a while back about how we spend a lot of time in church talking about the fruit of the Spirit. I came up with a list of the opposing fruit...the fruit of the flesh. Below is the list with their counter fruit.

Spirit = Love                                  Flesh = Hate

Spirit = Joy                                    Flesh = Woe/Sorrow

Spirit = Peace                                Flesh = Insecurity/Disturbance

Spirit = Longsuffering                      Flesh = Impatient/Complaining

Spirit = Gentleness                          Flesh = Harshness

Spirit = Goodness                           Flesh = Evilness

Spirit = Faith                                  Flesh = Doubt/Unbelief

Spirit = Meekness                           Flesh = Arrogance/Pridefulness

Spirit = Temperance                       Flesh = Wildness, Excess

Thought for the day:

What fruit are we displaying?

I've been doing some research on spiritual gifts to try to figure out what it is exactly that I do. Every since I was a child, I have had this ability to know when something is wrong with someone (it's like a flashing red light to me, even though no one else seems to be able to tell). Not only do I know something is wrong, I also know exactly what it is that the person needs (to help them spiritually). I believe that this might have something to do with the word of knowledge mentioned in scripture, since God gives me information that I could not otherwise know. I do not hear an audible voice or anything like that, I just know things. It seems that what I do involves a gift in the area of exhortation as well. These two things work together. Exhortation is all good and well, but one must have the knowledge of what another needs spiritually in order to properly exhort them. I am constantly humbled that God uses me in this way. I am far from the perfect Christian, but I know that God uses me in spite of myself. I think he chooses to do that based on what we read in I Corinthians 1:26-31, which have become my life verses. 

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Below is one definition I found for the word of knowledge. Let me know your thoughts on the topic.

Word of Knowledge

This gift is mentioned only in I Corinthians 12:8, 13:2(?), 8-10, and 14:6. To "know" something, of course, means to grasp certain information. The identification "word of knowledge" reveals this to be a speaking gift, the speaking forth of that knowledge to others. As explained above, it is revelatory knowledge that is in view, knowledge received directly from God, not attained by normal methods of research and learning. In those days before the availability of Scripture, the church relied upon men to deliver Divine Truth directly from God; a man gifted with the word of knowledge was such a man. This gift is similar to the gift of prophecy, differing perhaps in that this gift lacked the ability to foretell the future as could the prophets. More than likely, as the name of the gift suggests, to the one with the word of knowledge God also gave great insight and understanding of truth that had already been revealed. This knowledge would have been revelatory as well.

The men with the gift of knowledge simply delivered and explained God's truth to the church. God gave them the knowledge, and they relayed it to the church. Paul's frequent references to receiving and delivering a divine "mystery" (secret) serve as good examples of this gift (e.g., Ephesians 3:1-5 and I Corinthians 15:51). God simply informed him of the otherwise unknowable truth which he was to deliver to the church.

Many people today are given a great capacity for understanding Divine Truth, but this understanding is attained only by effort in the normal processes of learning. This gift of knowledge needed no such effort: the truth was simply revealed by God.

Jeremiah 2:13

"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."

I was looking at this verse and I started thinking about how this is true for so many Christians today. As born again Christians, we have been given the "fountain of living waters". Jesus said in John 4:14 "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Peter says in II Peter 1: 2&3 "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:".

Why is it then, seeing that God has given us all things, that we continue to seek fulfillment and meaning outside of God Himself? How would we live if we really understood that the world has nothing for us? 

I feel compelled to write this today. It is heavy on my heart. I believe there are many Christians (myself included) that continue to cling to these "broken cisterns". We have a divided heart. But the Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters. We cannot "ride the fence".

1 Kings 18: 21 says, "And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word."

I think part of the problem is that we do not see things as God sees them. We do not have an eternal perspective. We have a very horizonal view of things. We need to have a vertical view. One day, everything around us will be gone. We need to stop wasting our time on things that have no eternal value. As it has been said, "Only what's done for Christ will last". Everything else will be destroyed.

Peter tells us in II Peter 3:10-14  "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all  holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless."

Most of us know these verses. We have heard them many, many times. And yet we continue to try to fill up ourselves with that which cannot satisfy, with that which only leaves us emptier. But it does not have to be this way. We need to cast off the things that keep our hearts divided. We need to ask God to purge our hearts of whatever these things might be, and honestly pray Psalm 86:11 which says, "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name."

For the most part I have always looked at emotions as being negative. Probably because many of the the emotions that I experience seem to be, for the most part, negative. Sure, there are times that I have fun. There are times that I feel happy. But happiness is based entirely on circumstances.

 I can't spend my life trying to make myself happy. What a waste of time that would be. The only things that are going to matter in the end are the things that we did for Jesus Christ. And the things we do for Him are the only things that can bring us joy.

Depression always sets in when I focus on myself and my happiness, or lack thereof.

So many times I get wrapped up with this present world. I get caught up in the temporary trappings of this world that are suppose to bring happiness and contentment. Always grasping for more like a greedy child and only finding myself more empty in the end than when I began.

How can I be a light to others, when my candle is hidden under all the worldly things I keep entangling myself in.

How can I expect to find joy and peace in Christ when I am always spiritually whoring myself out to the world?

I'll never be what God wants as long as I keep trying to do everything with my own power. As long as I refuse to let His Holy Spirit have the control in my life I will continue to find myself back in the pig pen so to speak. Back in the very mud pit where he first found me.

The only way I will have a victorious life is if I am infused with the power of God.

God give me eyes to see as You see, ears to hear as You hear, lips to speak as You speak and a heart to love as You love.

Free my thoughts of all the filth that I have allowed to slowly gather and fester in my mind.

Thank You for never giving up on me.

I think that most Christians today are severely lacking in their knowledge of the scriptures. I admit to my shame that I don't spend as much time in the Word as I should.

The Bereans "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:10-11).

This is a major problem, because in today's world we are constantly being flooded with things that are touted as being of God. Just attach the name of Jesus and anything goes.

And how can we know the difference between the Truth of God and the lies of Satan if we are not constantly immersing ourselves in the Word of God? The Bible has a lot to say about false prophets and false teachers.

"But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction" (II Peter 2:1).

"By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber" (II Peter 2:3).

 ". . . having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness . . ." (II Peter 2:14-15).

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage" (II Peter 2:19).

Matthew 7:15-20:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

Also, we need to be very careful about the whole dialoguing and finding common ground thing. Finding common ground with someone is great if the purpose is to reach them with true Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (like Paul did). However, merely finding common ground with someone and then simply agreeing to disagee (the whole I'm okay, you're okay philosophy) is not something that we find in the Bible. At least I haven't found that yet. Nor do I find that Jesus came to earth to dialogue and find common ground with man. I see that he came to call sinners to repentance. Christ did reach people where they were, but he didn't get involved in the sinful things they were doing to accomplish this...he forgave them and told them to go and sin no more. God reaches everyone where they are at, but He doesn't want them to stay there. Too many professing Christians are still feasting on milk instead of meat. And so when the next thing comes along that looks "good" and feels "good", they assume it is of God and blindly run after it.

I walked a mile with Pleasure;

She chattered all the way,

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow

And ne'er a word said she;

But oh, the things I learned from her

When Sorrow walked with me!

Robert Browning Hamilton

This is so true. I know that in my own life, I have learned so much through sorrow. At one time I thought that if things were easier on me, I would be able to do more to serve God and would have more of a desire to serve. But, this is not the case. During the times things had been better, I often found myself drifting from God. I began to depend on my own strength, and forgot that the only way I can do all things is through Christ Jesus. Sorrow keeps us near to the heart of God. Pleasure can cause us to take our focus off what is truly important. Only what's done for Christ will last. All other things are meaningless in light of eternity.

There is so much pleasure available in today's world. Not all of it is evil, but it  becomes sin once it takes precedence in our lives over the things of God. Ask yourself this...

"Why do I need another hour of mindless drivel from the television? Do I really have time to spend another 3 hours on that video game? Am I reading all this other literature more than I am reading my Bible?"

Every second another soul enters into eternity. All around me people are sinking deeper in the mire of their sins. What am I doing about it? I have to say, not near enough.

If I really grasped what was happening, if I really understood the gravity of the situation, if I really saw through the eyes of God...